


even a traitor may mend , i have known one that did .

by MostlyFandomTrash



Series: the just, the traitor, the king. [2]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Edmund Pevensie-centric, Knight Eustace Scubb, Marriage Proposal, Multi, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, the pevensies stay in narnia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25457839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MostlyFandomTrash/pseuds/MostlyFandomTrash
Summary: edmund stands in his own throne room for the first time in a thousand and some years and looks up to find he and his siblings , all three of them , conjured in glass and stone -- peter with his shield , susan with her bow and her horn , himself with his swords , and lucy with her dagger and her cordial . he tries to imagine the colors the glass will cast onto the stone floor below and finds that he does not have to imagine it for long ./or , the king goes home and home is where he stays .
Relationships: Caspian/Edmund Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie & Eustace Scrubb, Edmund Pevensie & Lucy Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie & Lucy Pevensie & Peter Pevensie & Susan Pevensie
Series: the just, the traitor, the king. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842982
Comments: 3
Kudos: 99





	even a traitor may mend , i have known one that did .

(  _ it started out as a feeling _

_ which then grew into a hope _

_ which then turned into a quiet thought _

_ which then turned into a quiet word _ )

the homecoming for a voyage that had lasted months on end is , as expected , a large affair . the fact that the homecoming brings with it a new high king and high queen only serves to make it more so . when the high queen has caught sight of narnian shores in the near distance , she laughs aloud , drapping herself over eustace and edmund ' s shoulders , and yells to the lord drinian at the ship ' s wheel , " land in sight , captain ! " 

edmund can only grin , arm around his sister ' s waist to keep her steady and kept his eyes on the ever closer stretch of land he hasn ' t really stepped foot in for years . his cousin stands on the other side of his sister and says , wonder - filled , " edmund ? "

" eustace . " he returns , voice light . his cousin is a different person than he had been at the start of their journey , and he no longer has the familiar weight of reepicheep on his shoulder to keep him grounded . " what is it , cousin ? "

" if you and lucy and king and queen , and caspian is also king , then what does that make me ? " 

" you are eustace , " edmund says , with a smile , and lucy breaks in from between them to add , also grinning , " friend of narnia . "

eustace looks like he might say something else when they hear it ; the narnians are cheering . their king is home and they are cheering . caspian all but appears on edmund ' s other side , smiling wide . 

" king edmund , queen lucy . " the seafarer says , threading his fingers through the just ' s free hand ; the just smiles still . " welcome home . "

* * *

(  _ and then that word grew louder and louder _

_ ' til it was a battle cry _

_ i ' ll come back _

_ when you call me _ )

the seafarer ' s sister is waiting for the ship at the end of the docks and she yells his name when she sees him , " caspian ! "

they watch the way he grins , the way his shoulders all but relax at the sight of her , and they watch the way he ' s the first one off the ship to pick his sister up and spin her around . " cassie , " he says , and he looks like everything is finally okay when he sets his sister back on the ground . " how was ruling ? "

" other than the lords pleading for me to accept a marriage proposal , everything has been fine . i do believe the people do love me more on the throne than you , dear brother . " the queen - regent smiles , and that is when she notices the three additions to the crew that were not there months prior . her smile drops into a confused expression . 

the seafarer turns to watch them get off the ship , and he smiles softly . his sister moves from his side and says with a grin , " queen lucy ! king edmund ! " she pauses when she gets to eustace , brows furrowed , " did king peter suddenly grow younger or is this another sibling no one told me about ? " 

lucy laughs , and moves to hug the princess . " aslan , no . this is our cousin , eustace . "

" i know . it ' s tragic , ain ' t it ? " edmund adds , grinning as he throws an arm around the blond ' s shoulders , and eustace sputters out an offended  _ hey !  _ that has no effect whatsoever on his cousin . " hello  _ princess cassiopeia _ . "

cassiopeia grins back , and once she lets go of his sister , she says to the just king , " hello  _ king edmund _ . "

* * *

(  _ no need to say goodbye _

_ just because everything ' s changing _

_ doesn ' t mean it ' s never been this way before _

_ all you can do is try to know who your friends are _ )

the first thing he sees is his brother , which is absurd because he hasn ' t seen peter in almost a year [ he ' s not quite sure he remembers his face anymore ] , not since they got on different trains at the station before aunt alberta ' s house . the second thing he sees is the sword through his brother ' s side and then he ' s running . he ' s running and he can ' t seem to get any closer to peter -- he feels like he just keeps getting farther away , and maybe he does . 

when edmund turns around he finds susan being shot through with her own arrows and he doesn ' t understand what ' s going on until he turns around again and sees her . jadis ,  _ the witch - the woman - the winter _ that he killed a thousand lifetimes ago , when he barely knew how to handle a sword and just got  **lucky** . she ' s standing over lucy , and when she brings down her staff over his little sister ' s body , he screams .

and then , he wakes up .

he wakes up and he is somehow both hot and cold all at the same time and the seafarer is leaning over him , muttering his name softly and edmund hears a dry sob and takes a second to realize that the sound came from him . he sucks in a deep breath and has a hard time letting it out , and turns his head from side to side as though he ' s looking for something .

" edmund , " caspian says , voice soft , and reaches out to get the king to look at him ; he jerks his head away . " calm down, ed , nothing is happening to you. it was a dream , love . "

" where -- " he stops , voice hoarse , and swallows painfully . he tries again . " lucy . where is she ? "

his sister ' s voice telling him that _she ' s_ _right here_ hits him from the other side of the room , by his window , and he bolts around the seafarer to grab his sister tightly and murmur something against her hair that makes her pause for all of three seconds , before wrapping one arm tighter around him . 

" it ' s okay , ed . i ' m fine . it was only a dream . "

he ' s shaking and he think he might be crying because his face is wet but he really doesn ' t know anymore , and when he lets go of his sister , he just sinks . edmund rests his forehead against his knees and feels without seeing lucy sit on the floor next to him .

" it was a dream , edmund . she ' s dead , she can ' t hurt you or me or anyone . "

it takes him a long moment to respond , and he does so with a harsh laugh rising from his throat . lucy ' s hand , which had been running through his hair gently to calm him down, stills at his words . " can ' t she , luce ? "

she can , because if she couldn ' t , he wouldn ' t be sitting on the floor with his sister next to him and his lover moving towards them from across the room , unable to breathe properly . because if she couldn ' t , he would ' ve been able to get warm a long time ago .

instead , edmund tries to take a deep breath and exhales another sob and he ' s crying again , shaking with the force of it , and caspian ' s hand on his back and lucy ' s hand in his are the only things he can actually feel through the roaring in his head that only screams  _ traitor traitor traitor  _ over and over again .

* * *

(  _ as you head off to the war _

_ pick a star on the dark horizon _

_ and follow the light _

_ you ' ll come back when it ' s over _

_ no need to say goodbye _ )

they have been at telmarine court a month when lucy drags him into the throne room -- eustace barely recognized her these days ; he ' d spent weeks on a ship with her in this strange land of her make - believe stories that were never make - believe to begin with , but he had gotten so used to how she had been on board the dawn treader that seeing her now , in loose narnian dresses instead of a pair of caspian ' s old trousers and a shirt in edmund ' s size , is always a shock -- before his other cousin and the king .

( though , he supposes that they are both kings here , caspian and edmund , and lucy is a queen , as strange as that seems to him still [ his cousins are kings and queens , are legends and fairytales made true , and that is by far the hardest thing he ' s had to wrap his head around since he agreed to stay in narnia with them ] . he does not know if he is meant to bow or not so he doesn ' t , standing by his younger cousin while his older one gives him that strange smile that eustace doesn ' t quite know what to make of yet . )

it is caspian who speaks first ; it is his throne room , it is his right . " you found him . thank you , lucy . "

and he watches as lucy only smiles . " of course , caspian . " she smiles , lightly and steps onto the dais next to edmund , who is holding a sword in his hands -- he recognizes it vaguely as the sword caspian has been carrying ever since they appeared in the ocean . 

eustace looks from each of them to the next , from a barefoot queen to a king with sharp teeth to a king with soft eyes , and asks , " what did you need me for ? "

" kneel . "

" what ? "

" kneel , eustace . " lucy repeats , and she is laughing . " please , cousin , just do as you are told for once . "

eustace kneels , though he does not quite understand why he does so . he does not quite understand until edmund steps forward with a sword that used to belong to his brother and touches him on the shoulder with the flat of the blade and says , " once , for bravery . " he moves to other and lucy says , " twice , for honor . " and at the top of his head , caspian adds , " thrice , for courage . "

and edmund steps away , and eustace lifts his head , thoughts spinning and spiraling and threatening to bubble over into words until the just king , his own cousin , speaks into the quiet that has filled the throne room : " know now that we -- edmund the just , lucy the valiant , and caspian the seafarer -- rightful kings and queen of narnia , crowned by the lion aslan , do dub you with our sword : rise , sir eustace the undragoned , knight of narnia . "

* * *

(  _ you ' ll come back when it ' s over _

_ no need to say goodbye _ )

" that is how things are done , your majesty ! " one of them shouts , over the deafening roar of thirty other voices . 

the lords of telmar are loud . the king knew this , of course , but simply knowing it and experiencing it are two completely different things . he does not have a throne in this throne room , nor would he ever want one -- edmund likes it here , he does , but the telmarine castle is cold stone and dead dryads and there is a reason he leaves the doors to his balcony open during the night -- so he leans against the wall , half - cast in torchlight , and watches the seafaring king sit on his throne of iron and try to make them be quiet . the princess appears beside him , and he smiles . " princess cassiopeia . "

" king edmund . " she returns , and her eyes flick from her brother to the king beside her . " what do you think he ' s going do ? "

" i haven ' t the faintest idea . hopefully something amusing . "

cassiopeia laughs . " you think everything here is amusing , your majesty . "

edmund grins . " well , it is , isn ' t it ? all of them fighting over a pointless matter when it ' s ultimately caspian ' s decision what to do about it . it ' s as though they think that they have any real power . " he pauses . the lords have quieted , and they are looking at them . at him . the princess is blinking at her brother , almost confusedly , and that is when is registers what the lords had been arguing about : caspian needs to marry .

" king edmund , " the seafarer says ,  _ earth - tree - dryad skin  _ brown eyes lighting up as though he has just had the most brilliant idea , and the just raises an eyebrow and pushes himself off of the wall . he walks straight down the middle of the throne room , between the arguing lords of telmar and pays them no mind , and stops at the foot of the throne ' s dias , almost grinning his too sharp grin up at the older - yet - younger king . " yes , king caspian ? "

" the lords tell me i have to get married to secure my position as king . "

" as king of telmar , yes . you are already a rightful king of narnia , crowned by aslan . "

not a soul in the room moves , and then caspian grins . it is not as sharp as his own , but it is getting there . " if i have to marry someone in order to be king , i ' d like to marry you . "

" would you ? " edmund says , and he feels without seeing the lords in their seats shift almost uncomfortably . caspian is still looking at him ; he nods , once , and the just king grins again , this time sharply . " then , caspian , i think you should marry me . "

that is when the shouting starts up again .

* * *

(  _ now we ' re back to the beginning _

_ it ' s just a feeling and no one knows yet _

_ but just because they can ' t feel it too _

_ doesn ' t mean that you have to forget _ )

he steps into the rebuilt cair paravel for the first time and tilts his head back to the arched ceiling of the throne room , he closes his eyes . he doesn ' t think about how they only put two thrones on the dias instead of four or how this might look like home but it never will be quite right , will never have that odd nitch on the beam in the courtyard from that time peter got his sword stuck again or the paint stains on susan ' s bedroom wall where they just flung at each other and laughed like children because that ' s really all they were then . he doesn ' t think about that ; he thinks about his sister standing next to him and her delighted laugh when she tugs at his sleeve and says , " edmund , look . "

he opens his eyes , and sees the mosaic on the ceiling and the sound that comes out of him is nearer to a sigh than a laugh , but he ' s grinning so it doesn ' t really matter all that much . 

edmund stands in his own throne room for the first time in a thousand and some years and looks up to find he and his siblings , all three of them , conjured in glass and stone -- peter with his shield , susan with her bow and her horn , himself with his swords , and lucy with her dagger and her cordial . he tries to imagine the colors the glass will cast onto the stone floor below and finds that he does not have to imagine it for long .

the sun rises over the towers of cair paravel for the first time in ten hundred lifetimes , and it sends colors dancing over the faces of the high queen and king of narnia . lucy laughs again , and edmund can not help but to laugh along with her .

* * *

(  _ let your memories grow stronger and stronger _

_ ' til they ' re before your eyes _

_ you ' ll come back _

_ when they call you _

_ no need to say goodbye _ )

they are in the courtyard , sparring , when the just king lowers his sword and asks the seafarer , " did you mean it ? "

the seafarer blinks , once , twice , and then he smiles and lowers his blade and says , " did i mean  **what** ? you ' ll have to be more specific than that ,  _ mi rey _ . "

" in the throne room . you said you wanted to marry me . " he pauses , swallows . " that . did you mean that ? "

caspian blinks again , once , twice , three times and when he lifts a hand to brush against edmund ' s face , he laughs . " of course . why wouldn ' t i want to marry you , ed ? "

" i don ' t know , i ' m just . . . a lot to handle . " 

he laughs again as he drops his hand , and edmund shoves him slightly ; caspian sways . " what are you laughing at ? "

" you . "

" me ? "

" you ' re not a lot to handle , edmund . you ' re just , you . the you that i would gladly marry on the spot if i could . "

he opens his mouth to say something in return , and then changes his mind ; instead he just smiles and tugs the taller king down to kiss him , soundly . when he pulls away to breathe , he murmurs , " you know , kings can officiate marriages . "

caspian pauses , his hand against edmund ' s cheek again . he laughs and then he grins , eyes lit up , and then one king to the other says , " oh ,  _ can  _ they ? "


End file.
